Letters to the Editor

So, NOW's epitaph of the man Canadians mourned as a hero is, "He was no radical" (NOW, October 5-11). How sanctimonious can you get?

Your brand of radicalism is the kind that sells tobacco, cellphones and lofts to people who fancy themselves radicals.

Castro declared three days of mourning for Trudeau in his country.

What's good enough for Castro should be good enough for radical wannabes.

Even people who had better reason than you to dislike Trudeau respected him despite themselves. For example, a separatist singer from Quebec wrote a more humble epitaph: "We disliked you but we loved you."

Ron Ammirante

Toronto

Typically tacky to dis Trudeau too early

You were wrong to criticize Trudeau this early. It was not a classy move. Then again, your magazine continues to exhibit a fascination with that "bondage bungalow" woman, so it's easy to understand that you'll do anything in a tired attempt to be hip - or at least display poor manners.

Carl Macpherson

Barrie

He was no friend of Canadian workers

RE THE DAY WE CORNERED

Trudeau (NOW, October 5-11). Pierre Trudeau never passed up an opportunity to give the finger to working people fighting to defend their standard of living.

Ted Turner

Toronto

Forget intolerance when you come here

RE David Pengelly's letter (NOW, October 5-11). It is ironic that some people choose tolerant, diverse Canada as their home and yet forget to empty their luggage of intolerance before they arrive.

Multiculturalism works both ways, and newer Canadians have a duty to understand what is appropriate behaviour. Too often, inappropriate comments go unchallenged by Canadians because they fear they will be called racists. This has to change. There is nothing wrong with having self-respect and standing up for the culture we have built over the decades.

Bilal Abdullah, the Toronto District Muslim Education Assembly and Ontarians for Traditional Family Values (NOW, October 5-11) will have to learn to function in a society that includes gays of their and all races and religions as enfranchised, legally protected citizens.

Canada has a wonderful culture that deserves respect and vigorous defence. We are diverse, but we have one Charter Of Rights And Freedoms and one set of laws for all citizens. We need immigration but also need to support new Canadians with a much more rigorous course on Canadian citizenship and the culture of Canada.

Tom Ponessa

Toronto

Immigrants made Canada what it is today

The price of "high immigration" too high? Really? "High numbers" of Irish, Chinese, German, Ukrainian, Italian and later immigrants built this country. Their contribution to the economy is universally recognized.

Values? Some religionists of every stripe may be intolerant, but they are a minority. The great majority of Canadians have become more tolerant from living, working, going to school, marrying and making love with each other. We are Canadian. Get used to it.

Naseer Ahmad

Toronto

Co-ops the best kept rental secret in town

Thank you, Gerald Hannon, for giving gay ghetto-area housing co-ops a boost (NOW, October 5-11). But readers, please note: you don't have to wait eons to get into a market-rent apartment in a co-op.

Our market rents are affordable. In my co-op, Hugh Garner, $1,000 gets you a large, two-storey, three-bedroom apartment with windows on both sides of the building, with cash to spare. Our two-bedroom and one-bedroom apartments are also affordable. Share with a friend and they're even cheaper.

Margaret Oldfield

Toronto

Anti-Wendy's dog fight started in the media

Mike Tanner wrote that

he is not "dictating which businesses should be allowed to open and telling local landlords what to do" (NOW, October 5-11). Tanner makes this claim after circulating a petition demanding that new corporate tenants (Tim Hortons, Wendy's and Swiss Chalet) not be allowed to open on the Danforth.

After initiating a media campaign against the openings. And, after holding meetings (without the landlords and tenants present) with the local MPP.

Tanner also wrote that he recognizes "that landlords will rent to whomever they think are the best tenants, and we understand this point of view." The thing Tanner needs to understand is that this is not a landlord's "point of view" but, in fact, a landlord's right. If Tanner has trouble grasping this, I'd be more than happy to discuss it with him over a box of Timbits.

George Kokolakis

Toronto

Finally, Danforth dinner for less than $40

Forgive my cynicism, but all the upset over Wendy's plans to move into Riverdale (NOW, September 28-October 4) strikes me as a little insincere.

To be honest, I don't like these multinational fast food joints either - they cause damage to the environment, they're anti-union, etc, as well as the fact that most of the food on offer is just plain bad for you.

On the other hand, there isn't a whole lot available in Riverdale for those of us who can't readily afford to spend $40 dining out.

I grew up in this neighbourhood. Over the last 20 years, I've watched the "enlightened" professionals move in, drive house prices up and a lot of ordinary folk out. Of course, the professionals are pissed off right now. They've invested a good deal of money renovating their homes and recreating the Danforth in their own image.

Jill Maloney

Toronto

That's a trashy way to treat Tooker Gomberg

Re your anemic article on Tooker Gomberg's mayoral candidacy against Mel Lastman (NOW, September 21-27). Is this any way to treat one of your own magazine's "10 top activists in Toronto"? You could have detailed Tooker's long list of innovative and positive accomplishments, such as helping to establish one of Canada's first curbside recycling programs years ahead of its time.

Your article on Tooker Gomberg tells us more about NOW's mediocre reporting than it does about Gomberg. You could always redo it.

Jean Blais Mathieu

Toronto

On late-night AM, the BBC from Buffalo

It's nice to see, Sheila Gostick, that you've discovered the wonders of AM radio (NOW, October 5-11). But Sheila, the power cord does not act as an AM antenna! If you open up your radio, you'll see a long bar made out of ferrite that is wrapped in thin copper wire. That's your AM radio antenna!

And Sheila, the real fun on AM radio starts when the sun goes down and those signals start bouncing off the "D" layer of the ionosphere. Yes, you'll hear all manner of loud-mouthed right-wing talk show hosts, but you'll also find one of the very few loud-mouthed left-wing talk show hosts by tuning in to Jay Marvin on WLS 890 in Chicago.

Tonight as I write, there's a solar storm going on and I'm tuning in to the sounds of salsa music from Cuba's Radio Progreso network.

Suffering from insomnia? Then tune into the BBC World Service on Buffalo's WNED AM 970 after midnight.

Bob Chandler

Toronto

Dangerous Savage serves up misogyny

I've had it up to here

with Dan Savage's sex column. This week's instalment (NOW, October 5-11) is the final proof I need to believe that he is - under his subversive gay-centric sex writer disguise - a conservative, right-wing misogynist.

How does he get away with calling women who write in for advice "annoying freaks and dumb whores" or telling a woman that a man would gladly pay her to "suck his dick, if for no other reason than to get something into (her) mouth and shut (her) up"?

His view that "so many young women... are encouraged to... work through their humiliation, regret and hangover by calling the police and accusing (men) of date rape" is totally flawed and dangerous.

Why does NOW pay to have this American shithead give us our sex advice, anyway? His point of view is heavily influenced by his American-ness. Why else would he use his column as a forum for his right-wing (anti-Nader) political views?